1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector used for connecting, for example, a pair of printed substrates to each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
Connector units are thus far known that include a first connector attached to one of a pair of substrates disposed such that respective surfaces oppose each other, and a second connector attached to the other substrate, the first connector and the second connector being configured to be fitted together to connect the substrates, for example as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-18785.
One of the connectors includes a fixed housing to be fixed to the substrate, a movable housing disposed to move relative to the fixed housing in a front-back direction and a width direction of the connector, and a plurality of terminals each having an end portion retained by the movable housing and the other end portion retained by the fixed housing. The movable housing is displaced relative to the fixed housing by elastic deformation of a movable portion provided between the end portions of each of the terminals, so as to absorb a positional shift between the substrates arising from vibration or impact.
Now, some socket connectors, corresponding to the first connector, include a first and a second contact portion terminal, which are elastically deformable, disposed so as to make contact with a contact portion of a terminal of a plug connector, corresponding to the second connector, the first and the second contact portion being located with a spacing therebetween in the direction in which the connectors are fitted together. With the mentioned configuration, even though a foreign matter such as dust or stain is stuck to the terminal of the plug connector, the second contact portion can make contact therewith after the foreign matter is removed by the first contact portion, which assures the electrical conduction between the terminal of the plug connector and the terminal of the socket connector.
To be more detailed, the terminal of the socket connector includes the first contact portion and the second contact portion, a first elastic portion and a second elastic portion elastically deformable in the direction to contact the terminal of the plug connector, a first fixing portion fixed to the movable housing, a movable portion elastically deformable in a width direction of the connector, a second fixing portion fixed to the fixed housing, and substrate connection portion to be connected to the substrate.
The first elastic portion extends upward from the upper end portion of the first fixing portion, and the first contact portion is provided on the upper end portion of the first elastic portion.
The second elastic portion extends upward from the upper end portion of the first fixing portion, and the second contact portion is provided on the upper end portion of the second elastic portion. The first and the second elastic portion are located with a spacing therebetween in a front-back direction, the second elastic portion being located closer to the center of the connector in the front-back direction.
Here, in the case where the second elastic portion of the socket connector is formed in a linear shape, the proximal end portion connected to the first fixing portion has to be shifted forward or backward in the front-back direction of the connector in order to avoid interference with a projecting portion of the first movable housing supporting the terminal of the plug connector, and hence the width of the second movable housing in the front-back direction has to be increased. Therefore, not only the socket connector but also the plug connector have to be made larger in the front-back direction.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the foregoing drawback, and provides a connector that suppresses an increase in size in the front-back direction, despite including a multi-contact terminal having a plurality of contact portions and elastic portions.